We are already well into the 2017 Crossfit Open and who better to offer us advice about our performance than athletes that made it into the previous Regional and Games. We have the tremendous honor of collaborating with great national and international crossfitters.

Their advice ranges from close to home to a world away, such as; Samuel Gallego from Málaga and Janine Enslin Pennia from Pretoria, South Africa.

Every participant of the Open comes with their own goals sharing one common goal; be the best you every day during every WOD.

All of us handle competition in a unique way, most of us do the open for different reasons. Not everybody in the open is necessarily aiming for Regionals this year. My tips for the 2017 CrossFit Opens are:

1) Keep an open mind (Pun intended) as we well know, anything can happen…

I personally did not go into the open with my eyes on Regionals. It was always in the back of my head, (You have to be strategic too, I recognize that) but my main focus was on doing better than I ever have, for MYSELF.

If I felt like I was able to go harder right after an Open workout, I’d do it again.

I have to say: “I couldn’t have done better than that for where I am now” after I’m done. – If I can say that, I am happy, regardless of the outcome.

2) Of course, Enjoy it!

You are surrounded by like-minded people with this “thing” we love. You are in a familiar environment… Embrace that opportunity and “Make every second count”!

1) Don’t change your program. Get your coach to schedule the open workout on a day that suits you. You want to keep normal routine and just attack the workout hard when it comes up.

I don’t change anything; diet, supplements, kit, clothes, shoes etc. all stay exactly the same. For me it’s just another workout in the week. I’ll continue with my program as soon as it’s done, even training straight after and in the evening again.

2) Don’t get involved with the leaderboard. I do my best and leave it there. My coach and I will analyze the workout, but we don’t check the leaderboard until Monday afternoon. If I need to do it again, I will, but normally one time is enough.

Getting obsessed with other people scores only drives up stress levels, ruins recovery and effects my training too much. It’s 5 weeks long, and it’s about consistency, not winning every WOD and getting obsessed with winning 1st or 2nd place.

1) Many people get nervous when doing the open, including myself. Therefore, after a good warm-up, I recommend making sure you calm yourself and get your heart rate down before hitting the Open WOD. This can prevent your heart rate from spiking too early.

2) Tactics are clearly important in all of the Open WODs. However, it can be hard to figure out the best tactics for one self. If you are taking more than one try at an Open WOD, I recommend not overthinking the first try – just try it out and see how it goes. Then you learn what to do and what not to do when hitting the WOD for another try.

1) Watch the live stream more than once and try to analyze the pacing and approach of the top athletes. Then try to prepare a game plan that is individualized on your ability. It doesn’t make sense if you try to go the same pace as Froning did. Find out how you should structure your sets of toes-to-bar, boxjumps or snatches, then go to the gym and crush it!

2) Don’t put yourself under too much pressure. I did that two years ago and it neither paid off nor worked out well. Set yourself a reasonable goal on each workout and readjust your scoring goal after each week. Enjoy the Open, these are the 5 weeks we all worked hard for throughout the whole year. Kill it!

It is fundamental to charge up your energy and excitement during the CrossFit Open. Keep motivation high with every video, song, and image that drives you in order to give it your all at each event. Once achieved, the following is vital…

1) Analyze each event with a sound mind to help find the ideal strategy for you as an athlete. Every athlete possesses strengths and weaknesses. Recognizing yours allows you to perform and develop accordingly in order to get the best results from this workout.

2) Film your WOD in a comfortable environment during a time of the day that you feel your best. Surround yourself with friends and colleagues that know how to motivate and encourage you during every rep. Most importantly, enjoy what you do. Don’t ever view a workout negatively but rather as a new challenge; take every result as a lesson and continue fighting because this is all just getting started.